


Pleiades

by charll



Series: Shooting Stars [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Freeform, Gen, Ruthless (Mass Effect), Spacer (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 17:59:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5675320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charll/pseuds/charll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Events bonding Shepard to certain members of her crew have her transitioning from stranger to sister.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is sort of an exploration in those around Shepard as their relationships develop. The idea kind of came to me while I was doing a new playthrough and I started thinking about how a ruthless only child/spacer Shepard would adapt with certain characters and becoming quite close with them that it was almost familial (though obviously without becoming ooc) as they progress through the canon timeline.

To the Commander, the new gunnery chief was mildly grating at best and absolutely infuriating at worst. Jane had often found herself wondering if she would have been more like the gunnery chief had her parents decided to have more children.

The way Williams could go on about her family would impart a slight grimace to the woman's usually confident and collected features. Now, Shepard was no stranger to jealousy. Though she liked to think her discomfort was simply a general distaste for the embarrassing familiarity of Ashley's unwavering pride, and simply something to be sorted in the privacy and comfort of her own cabin.

Williams would be lying if she didn't admit that the Commander was imposing, hell, downright threatening under most circumstances. Williams copped to having battles that shaped her. One gets caught up in all kinds of criticism growing up with the ghosts of Shanxi in your blood. But Ashley wasn't stupid or naive. She knew what her commander had done on Torfan. She knew what the woman was capable of, the brutal truths of combat. And Ashley made sure to look Jane dead in the eyes every time she'd approached her station in the armory.

Jane knew a warrior when she saw one. Though initially she'd felt uneasy adding the outsider from the 212 to their roster, she couldn't see Williams anywhere else. Underneath the rough exterior was a soldier dedicated; family, love, warmth, duty, honor. Shepard had returned weeks later to an old thought; Williams is who she wished her mother and father would have raised.

Despite Shepard's inborn desire to compete with Williams, she fought tooth and nail to interact professionally. Ash wasn't mistaken. There was a distinct first impression that she was being judged after Eden Prime. And if that were the case, she could give as good as she got, with a smile and a salute no doubt. Jane's response was a confident lilt, a strong glare, and an upturned smirk of parting encouragement: "Dismissed, Chief."

_Fake it 'til you make it._


	2. Chapter 2

When Shepard had met the quarian on the Citadel she had made a snap judgement, similar to how a younger Shepard would react, buckling under pressure. Though, it was personal, never admitted because the girl had value to the Commander's cause at the time. 

She was so young, just barely in her twenties, if Jane had to guess. When Tali insisted she join the crew of the Normandy, Shepard's eyebrows raised somewhere between genuine disbelief and a familiar trepidation. There was a wariness in the commander, fixating on the impressionable youth. 

She said yes. It was no question, with all those eyes on her. Jane nearly felt obligated to welcome the young quarian with warm and open arms, regardless of how much of said warmth was fabricated and hollow.

They didn't speak often the first few weeks. Tali holed up in the drive core with the other engineers, unknowingly ensuring that the Commander would steer clear of that area. But Tali flourished in the environment. And after a run-in at the small mess hall with engineer Adams, Shepard was encouraged to visit more often and get to know her. She wasn't making as much trouble in the engine room as she'd thought. 

Tali didn't expect it when Shepard walked in, eyes wide as if it were the first time in that area of the ship (knowing her, it likely was), and approaching the girl to pepper her with questions. She had so much to say and Shepard found that she didn't mind. Geth, pilgrimage, quarian culture, environment suits; Jane found herself drifting in and out of the conversations, yet drawn in by the soft cadence and gentle accent. 

Shepard thought in the back of her mind what kind of look would be hidden behind that mask if she was to tell the girl how soothing her voice was. She decided against it in the end, the momentary lapse in judgment rectified. Tali decided not to tell her how adept at reading body language quarians were, instead shifting her weight comfortably and continuing her condensed explanation of quarian cultural structuring.


	3. Chapter 3

Asari were a rarity in the Alliance tours, and Shepard hadn't particularly been one to go out of her way to change that. She'd never admit it, but they intimidated her with their seemingly endless lifespans and their natural biotics. Not to mention the hold they seemed to have over every soldier on shore leave. 

Yet, Jane knew right away that Liara was different. She was young for an Asari, she'd said, but that did not devalue her sense of humility. Jane knew Asari to carry themselves with an almost regal air, like they owned the room but were too polite or dignified to say so. It pissed her off. And Liara pissed her off too, for not being like the asari she expected. 

Jane was almost surprised to hear that the Krogan and Turian got along better than Liara did with the rest of the Normandy, almost. She was still the daughter of one of their enemies. She restricted herself to the small room behind the med bay. 

She felt a bit of sadness that Liara seemed to be alienated from the crew, only talking to Chakwas, taking meals in the small, hidden room. Though, she'd joked to herself, at least she's ensured privacy. Her lip twitched, brow furrowing. As sorry she felt for Liara not integrating into the crew, she couldn't help but harbor a small bit of resentment for the asari. 

She had been in awe that Liara persuaded her to be brain probed in front of the crew more than once. It was invasive and uncomfortable and left her emotional and shaking with frustration in her cabin.

She had gone to bed that night with the image of a small asari child digging in lush grass with wide and innocent eyes. 

She grit her teeth in her sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

It should have been her.

Ashley had nightmares. She rolled in her bunk, legs wrapped around the cheap Alliance issue blanket as sweat accumulated on her body. When she woke, only bits and pieces would remain intact to remember, though the guilt would cling to her back like a parasite, ever present.

Jane made the call. Die proud. She was so sure and so clear, yet Ash was the one drowning in doubt. She remembered the vid from her sisters that had made her blush only days ago. It would only be a matter of time before she'd received another, conjuring tension coiled tightly around her chest.

It made sense to blame Shepard, but her heart twisted into knots and her head grew foggy when the sense made way. She didn't want to. Her heart wanted to shoulder the blame, as she always had.

And if she thought the nights were torture, the days were becoming absolute murder. Breakfast in the mess was just noise. She sat, posture caved inward, and negating any advance of conversation, unable to do much but drink her coffee. Williams tried to keep her judgements to herself, she did. She tried to tell herself that she wasn't the only one who cared, who doubted.

It only took one moment from some nameless officer. She didn't even know why; a small laugh, a quirk of the lip, a hand over the mouth. It had nothing to do with the Lieutenant, but she didn't care. Her fist had dented the wall closest to the officer, her eyes pinning her in place.

The mess hall had grown silent, but not for Ashley.  
Jane had reminded her; _"Williams weren't made for wallowing."_


	5. Chapter 5

Noveria offered little in way of comfort. It was cold, beyond cold, and the architecture was sharp and unwelcoming. She had been unsurprised when Peak 15 had been no different. She was even unshaken when Shepard asked if she needed to be left on the ship, as in: would Matriarch Benezia's daughter ruin the mission out of some misplaced familial sentimentality. Liara responded professionally to the tactless question without fail, a terse 'of course not.' She hadn't seen her mother in years, decades. Shepard narrowed her eyes, disbelieving.

The mission was tense, the coldness of the planet adding to the discomfort. Liara felt like an outsider, an intruder, as if she was a mistake and would be left at Shepard's mercy with her mother. It was irrational, she'd thought- paranoid, delusional!

Shepard had been called many things by many people; cold-hearted, tactless, sneaky, opportunistic, brutish, the list goes on. But stupid was not among them. There was only one more stop before the origin of the Rachni infestation, and hopefuly, the location of the Matriarch. Her eyes were on the asari once more. Liara couldn't "it's nothing," her way out of Shepard's scrutinizing gaze.

Liara opened her mouth to speak, brow furrowing in some depressing hybrid, eyes glassy. She stopped immediately when she felt a warm hand on her back, rubbing lightly as her gaze met the commander's. Soothing, and yet- _this is the moment to steel yourself, Liara._


	6. Chapter 6

She hoped to never see that many geth ever again. Ilos was a sanctuary of sorts, and yet it was overrun. It was a nightmare. Her pulse pounded in her ears, magnified by the solitude of her hard suit. She felt beads of sweat accumulate around her limbs, forgetting to activate her suit's built in cooling matrix. 

They were returning to the Mako, finally, and she was ever thankful. The fear was beginning to take hold of her mind, throwing her into a silent panic. As Shepard drove through the ruins, the girl attempted to collect herself, running checks for suit ruptures and a slew of antibiotic procedures, just in case. She let out a small moan and Shepard's eyes were on her. She hadn't noticed her commander's shift in focus until the noise escaped her again. 

She had a dream once, as a small child, she admitted. It was not rational, but nightmares rarely are, and even less so are those of children. She dreamt of a suit rupture in a geth populated space. It sounded harmless enough, easy to fix with built in seals. The suit rupture grew never healed, never mended- infection spreading synthetics, until nothing of the original quarian remained. 

Tali rubbed at her arm as her commander grimaced at the wheel. Turning a sharp corner had knocked them out of their reverie. The relay beckoned, and it was larger than the geth.


	7. Chapter 7

Liara didn't stay long. She helped around the Normandy after the battle, endearing her to many of the crew who had condemned her out of ignorence before. It was in no way pleasurable to leave, and there was an emptiness she felt after Jane and the Normandy had left the Citadel docks.

She tried to build up the passion she felt aboard the Normandy by occupying her time, filling it with odd jobs, poor substitutes for her commander. Noveria had hardened her. There was now so much more than the small, studious world she'd carved for herself. It was darker, too. Liara held the image of Jane, standing next to her on Noveria, in her mind. There was still the oncoming threat to the galaxy, to her friend. Liara returned home to Thessia (for now), along with a fire of urgency burning in her gut.

 

* * *

 

Tali confided in her sometime after being pulled out of the wreckage of the council chambers, something the commander did not expect. She was returning home, but as someone more valuable than what her pilgrimage would ever have offered. Shepard gave her safety - Jane laughed, _of course she did_ \- Tali looked pensive, for a quarian, and then gave a laugh herself.

She'd never felt quite welcomed outside the flotilla before, always being the subject of a prejudiced merchant or a citadel thug. Jane could never understand the burdens that came with quarian life. She watched her friend's back as she boarded the freighter bound for the Migrant Fleet. When she looked at the young masked woman, and no longer saw the naive quarian stray from the wards. Small gestures, a pat on the back or clasped handshake, slowly became warm and embracing. As if there were no mask separating the girl from the world.

With a turn of her head back to her former commander before the hatch closed, she'd become thankful for the shroud, hoping Jane wouldn't notice the light cloud of perspiration cresting the uppermost part of her helmet.

 

* * *

 

She decided to stay on, contacting Alliance command and requesting the transfer to the Normandy to be more permanent. Thinking about serving on another ship, under another command - it put her head in a fog and made her chest feel tight. Jane was pleased to hear it, even if she didn't really say it. She'd nodded, appreciatively. Well, the kind of appreciation that roughly translates to, "who else is going to clean up this damn galaxy with me."

She nodded back, and her heart welled. Deep inside she knew she still carried the guilt, the weight. Now she was sure she wouldn't carry it alone.


End file.
